Private Collection, France
Sale: Enghien, Me Champin-Lombrail-Gautier, November 24, 1988, lot 45
M. de Surmont, Gstaad (acquired at the above sale)
Acquired from the above by the present owner

George Grappe, Catalogue du Musée Rodin, Paris, 1927, no. 148, illustration of the marble version p. 59
Albert E. Elsen, Rodin, New York, 1963, illustration of another cast p. 63
Robert Descharnes and Jean-François Chabrun, Auguste Rodin, Paris, 1967, illustration of the marble version p. 131
John L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, Philadelphia, 1976, illustration of the marble version p. 77

Very good condition. The patina is a rich, dark brown with green highlgihts with some typical rubbing and variation in the patina (with a few areas of green patina, particularly visible on the top of his head, in his fingers and on her right knee.) There is a visible casting seam around the circumference of his lower torso and right thigh, and a 1 inch scratch on the back of his left arm. There is a minor nick on her right hand and a few minor scratches and imperfections in the surface.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Le Baiser is one of Rodin's best-known and most highly regarded sculptures. Originally intended for the left side of his monumental project, The Gates of Hell, the present work portrays a scene from Dante's inferno. Here, Rodin depicts the ill-fated lovers, Paolo and Francesca, who were murdered by Francesca's husband and Paolo's brother, Vanni Malatesta. Banished to hell for their adulterous passion, the two lovers were doomed to spend eternity in an embrace. Among all the love stories in Dante's La Divina Commedia, this forbidden liaison, so reminiscent of courtly love, had the greatest resonance for a late 19th Century audience.

Unlike more austere, contemporary variations of this subject, Rodin depicts the lovers in the throws of a passionate kiss. During the early 1880s, when the present work was completed, Rodin was still trying to prove his talent to the Parisian art world. With Le Baiser, the artist successfully demonstrated his mastery of the sculptural medium and his sensitivity to the human condition.

As explained by Albert E. Elsen,"In The Kiss, which could have been made by 1881, Rodin was still trying to show the official art world that he could compose with the best of the Prix de Rome winners. In fact, he not only outdid them in the sincerity of the lovers' expressions of mutual awareness and love, he even revived an old gesture of sexual appropriation by having the more assertive Francesca sling her leg over that of the hesitant Paolo" (Albert E. Elsen, The Gates of Hell by Auguste Rodin, Stanford, 1985, p. 78). The sensuality of this work, enhanced by the tenderness of the figures' kiss, has made Le Baiser one of the most celebrate🌄d images ♉of love in 19th Century Art.

 

Fig. I  Eugène Druet, Photograph installation of Le Baiser at the Salon of 1898 (first exhibition o🔴f the 🐼marble)